Twin Cities Residential Construction Continues to Climb in May

Although housing inventory continues to shrink, Twin Cities residential construction is moving full steam ahead with demand outpacing supply. May permit numbers revealed another month of increased activity in both single-family construction and multifamily construction. So far this year, single-family permitted units are up 20 percent over 2016, while multifamily units are up 125 percent over last year.

According to data compiled by the Keystone Report for the Builders Association of the Twin Cities (BATC), there were 537 permits issued for a total of 1,423 units during four comparable weeks in the month of May.

“With the growth we’ve seen this spring, we expect this to be a strong summer for residential construction,” said Bob Michels, the Builders Association of the Twin Cities 2017 President. “A big concern of ours is the need for entry-level housing, and with our current regulatory environment and labor shortage, it’s a challenge for builders to meet that price point.”

“While we still have a long way to go in order to address the price challenges facing new homes, we are very excited about several pieces of legislation that passed this session as part of the Minnesota Homeownership Initiative,” said BATC Executive Director, David Siegel. “These substantive reforms will have a positive impact for entry-level home buyers by increasing more first-time home-buyer opportunities, and will create greater housing affordability for all Minnesotans.”

For April, Lakeville took the top spot with 45 permits issued. Plymouth came in next with 37 permits, followed by Blaine with 25 permits, Lake Elmo with 23 permits, and Apple Valley with 22 permits issued.